South’s Benninghoff set to reach new heights at UNC
BucksLocalSports Editor mole-vaulting, Council oock pouth track C field coach Ken Worthen said, is one of the few sports that always ends in failure.
The statement is no less true for Co pouth senior Amanda Benninghoff. That said, Benninghoff never let any of her failures stand in the way of her success.
lver the last four years at pouth, Benninghoff has worked her way to the top of her profession. Last spring at the coot Locker r.p. National Track C cield meet held annually in dreensboro, North Carolina, she vaulted over 12 feet, 1M and PL4 inches, almost an inch more than the school record held by Co pouth alum Tory Worthen E12-1M).
Now, Benninghoff is taking her game to the next level and will compete next season at the rniversity of North Carolina. Benninghoff went public with her commitment to the Tar Heels this morning Eceb. U) in a National pigning aay ceremony at pouth. phe and six others including Alexis Hofstaedter EWilliam C Mary basketball), wrestler m.g. pteinmetz Emenn ptate), oyan cleming EoutgersL baseball), maige Mcaowell ELapalleL soccer), Christine Besselman ELafayetteL lacrosse) and Chris ppadara EmittsburghL track C field) announced their intentions to take their respective games to the next level.
In her recruitment process, Benninghoff spent some time looking into some big-time aivision I programs including those at William C Mary, menn, Wake corest and Vanderbilt. In the end, she chose rNC because she said it was the best fit, and by that, she didn’t mean easy.
“It’s hard academically and it’s hard athletically,” explained Benninghoff.
“You’re supposed to look for a place where you see yourself – where you see a face like yours and that’s where I saw mine.”
When this all started, Benninghoff said she envisioned herself going far in gymnastics or soccer, certainly not pole-vaulting.
“As a freshman, I don’t think I ever imagined this; I didn’t think I’d go that far,” she said. “lnce I saw I had talent doing this, it just seemed like a natural course of action.”
Amanda
is a natural al- right. After setting a freshman record by clearing nine feet in ninth grade, she’s reached for the stars. With her junior year came a firstplace medal in districts, second in indoor states, fifth at outdoor states and second at nationals.
“I had a really good freshman year and I pretty much have had a level of progression in pole vaulting since I started.
“That’s really worked for me because I’m not the type of person who is just going to want to stay at a certain height. I’m going to keep working no matter what it takes to get to that next height.”
Her toughest challenge at pouth, she says, was being the team captain.
“It was a big honor but it came with more challenges than I thought – getting the team to be more unified,” said Benninghoff, adding
that she’s still working on her leadership skills. “In track, there’s so many different events and it’s hard to get everyone all together.”
Leadership also has its reward, though. Last season, the Hawks captured a runner-up medal in the Suburban One National League meet.
If the cards play out at UNC the way they’ve turned up at South, Benninghoff will find herself in the medal round many times with the Tar Heels.
*** NOTES: Benninghoff also works on her game at sertical Assault, a club team in Bethlehem. A senior now competing at Princeton, Tory Worthen still holds the record for pole-vaulting at South as Benninghoff eclipsed the 12-10 mark at a national meet. A state champion in 2009, Tory is a six-time Ivy League champion, the Ivy League record-holder (136.5) and was the 2012 Ivy League MsP.